Additional Paternity Leave to be replaced by Flexible Parental
Leave from 2015
Employment Law & HR update - 02/06/2011
Hot on the heels of the introduction of Additional Paternity
Leave (APL) at the beginning of April, the government has now
launched a consultation about scrapping it. The "Modern
Workplaces" consultation paper proposes effectively replacing
Additional Paternity Leave with a new system of Flexible Parental
Leave (FPL), to implement a key part of last May's coalition
agreement.
What's the difference between Additional Paternity Leave
and Flexible Parental Leave?
In practice, there will be little difference between the old and
new systems of leave and the proposals include continuing with the
system of "self-certification" by workers brought in by the APL
regulations.
Like current maternity and paternity leave, Flexible Parental
Leave will only apply during the first year of a baby's life.
However, FPL will give employees the following additional
benefits:
- Both parents may take leave at the same time (currently, for
the father to take APL, the mother must have returned to
work);
- Fathers will get a right to four weeks' "use it or lose it"
leave, paid at maternity pay rates, even if the mother takes the
full 52 weeks' leave entitlement;
- FPL could be taken in several small blocks, if the employer
agrees, although the employer can insist that the leave is taken in
a single block.
What happens next?
The consultation exercise closes in August. Because of the
government's 3-year moratorium on new UK regulation on small
business, any new regulations are unlikely to be implemented before
2015.